How to Survive the All-Consuming Society
Lizelle Bacolod
What we buy and where we decide to spend our money shapes who we are in this all-consuming society. Without us fully realizing it, our lives are shaped by products and the systems that package, advertise, and distribute them. “All media work us over completely,” Marshall McLuhan once stated.
Marketers invent ways to persuade consumers to purchase their products through manipulation. We mindlessly buy and spend without realizing the personal and social effects of our consumption. We may purchase things to feel included, to find community, or to feel a sense of serotonin.
This project focuses on surviving consumerism in our world today. Through a guidebook and satirical products, the thesis asks people to spend less, recognize the manipulative tactics companies use to encourage spending, and question the value of consumption. The book guides users to spend less by pushing against the idea of mindless consumption through features and cautionary advice before purchasing a product. The products act as a critique of recent trends, showing how the surface appearance of a package leads shoppers to consume impulsively. Using well-known container shapes, this project re-contextualizes and code-switches overly consumed products, like skincare, alcohol, matcha, blind boxes, and fast fashion items, and reveals the realities of each one in a sarcastic manner.
This project asks how we as designers might use our craft ethically to challenge systems that support overconsumption.